


A Single Red Rose

by moonbaby11 (ushnuu)



Series: Red Roses [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Romance, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ushnuu/pseuds/moonbaby11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who would've thought a single red rose would change everything?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Single Red Rose

“ _Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!_ ”   
  
Oh, Merlin, please make him stop.   
  
“ _Happy Birthday dear Rosie, Happy Birthday to you!_ ”   
  
Could my brother sing any worse?   
  
“Ava,” I moaned, still half-asleep. “Tell Hugo to shut it!”   
  
“Why, Rose?” she asked, seeming extremely happy. “You’re sixteen! Sweet Sixteen! In the Muggle world, they throw huge parties when you’re sixteen, because you’re allowed to drive a car.”   
  
“My dad drove a car when he was twelve,” I replied.   
  
“Okay, apparently you really need to get more sleep, because that had nothing to do with what we were talking about. Come on! You should be happy!”   
  
I groaned into my pillow, but opened my eyes anyways. Ava was standing there smiling at me, and I could still hear Hugo singing down in the common room.   
  
“How do you feel?” she asked.   
  
“Horrible,” I told her. Actually, I’d been feeling horrible for the past two months. Horrible and regretful. I had finally had a chance to tell Scorpius Malfoy how I actually felt, and a chickened out, thinking I had somehow gotten over ‘the boy of my dreams’. I was far from over him. In fact, I think the crush might have even grown stronger after what happened on Valentine’s Day.   
  
“Oh, lighten-up,” she replied. “Just forget about Scorpius Malfoy for one day, and have fun!”   
  
I groaned. “I don’t know if it’s that easy, Ave.”   
  
“Why not?” she snapped. “Now, get out of bed! We’ve got to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast, then head off to Herbology!”   
  
I grumbled and reluctantly got out of bed. I got ready, then went down to the common room, where Hugo was still singing away.   
  
“ _It’s your birthday, so don’t look so down! Turn that frown upside-down!_ ” he sang.   
  
“Did you just make that up, Hugo?” I asked.   
  
Hugo nodded enthusiastically. “Did you like it?”   
  
“Yeah, sure,” I lied.   
  
Hugo grinned and followed us down to breakfast. “I can’t believe you’re sixteen, Rosie! Wow, time sure goes fast, doesn’t it?”   
  
“Sure,” I replied to Hugo. Ava reached over and pinched my arm. “Ow!” I screeched. “What was that for?”   
  
“Listen to your brother, and cheer up! There’s no need to be grumpy on your birthday!”   
  
“Okay, fine,” I mumbled. I looked at Ava and gave her a huge, over-exaggerated smile. “Are you happy now?” I asked through my teeth, not breaking the huge smile.   
  
“Sure am!” she replied.   
  
Hugo chuckled as we reached the Great Hall. We all went to sit down at the Gryffindor table, Hugo with his friends, and me with Ava.   
  
“Happy Birthday, Rose,” said Grace, Albus’ girlfriend, as I reached for a waffle.   
  
“Al told you, huh?” I asked.   
  
She nodded. “I can’t believe you’re sixteen already! Only a few more months for me, but I can hardly wait. Have you gotten any presents yet?”   
  
I shook my head. “Knowing my family, they’ll all arrive late. We’re pretty hectic!”   
  
“So true,” Ava mumbled. “If you’ve ever gone to a family gathering with the Weasley’s you’d know! There’s, like, twenty kids-”   
  
“Twelve,” I corrected.   
  
Ava glared at me. “Twelve kids running around, a bunch of adults arguing over nothing, and hardly any place to sit down without being pranked by Fred, Louis or James!”   
  
“That is not true,” I assured Grace.   
  
She smiled. “Ah, I don’t care if it’s true or not,” she replied. “I’d love to have a huge family like that!”   
  
“Really?” I asked, staring at Grace as if she were insane.   
  
“Really,” she nodded. “Well, Happy Birthday. I’ll see you in Herbology.” We waved as she walked back down to the other end of the Gryffindor table to sit with our other dorm mates.   
  
“You see?” Ava asked. “There’s no need to be so grumpy!”   
  
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied. Ava rolled here eyes, and I began to cut up my waffle. I stared across the room to the Slytherin table, where he was sitting, talking to Peter and Liam. All three of them were laughing really hard, but the only one I really took notice of was Scorpius.   
  
“ROSE!” Ava screamed.   
  
“What?” I asked her.   
  
“I asked if you could pass the sausages,” she replied. “You were ignoring me!”   
  
“No I wasn’t,” I assured her. I was just concentrating on Scorpius Malfoy.   
　 

* * *

  
  
“Happy Birthday, Rose!” Albus grinned as we left the Herbology Greenhouse. Ava and I had somehow ended up late to class, so he hadn’t had a chance to give me birthday wishes before class.   
  
“Thanks, Al,” I replied in a mono-tone voice. Al looked at me.   
  
“Oh, don’t be offended,” Ava sighed. “Rose isn’t acting like her usual self. She’s just a bit grumpy today.”   
  
“How can she be grumpy? It’s her birthday!” Albus cried.   
  
“I know,” replied Ava, rolling her eyes. “She’s mental.”   
  
“You know I’m right here!” I snapped.   
  
“Come on, Rose! Lighten up!” Grace smiled.   
  
“Yeah, Ro. It’s three against one, now! You better listen to us.” he said.   
  
I stuck my tongue out at Al.   
  
“Wow. You sure are touchy today,” Ava sighed.   
  
He laughed. “Oh, I have a present for you, Rose! That is, if you actually want it. You don’t seem to be in the mood for gifts.”   
  
“I’m not _that_ grumpy," I replied.   
  
Al grinned.   
  
“So, I guess I’ll pick it up if I come by your common room later, then?” asked Grace.   
  
Albus nodded. “Then you can bring it back to your common room and give it to Rose. I hope you like the present.”   
  
“Yeah, I hope I like it, too,” I replied. Albus smiled, and walked off with Grace to their next classes.   
  
“See you after, Arithmancy,” I said, to Ava.   
  
“Yeah,” she replied. “I’ll save you a seat at lunch.”   
　 

* * *

  
  
Arithmancy seemed to go by in a blur, and soon we were back at the Gryffindor table for lunch. As promised, Ava had saved me a seat. A few more people had wished me a happy birthday as I had walked into the Great Hall to eat. Most of them were friends of my cousins, or people in the same year as me. Word really got around the castle about things.   
  
“How was Arithmancy?” Ava asked.   
  
“Fine,” I replied. “How was Divination?”   
  
“Trelawney predicted my death again,” Ava said, rolling her eyes. “Apparently I’m going to be attacked by a Chimaera.”   
  
I started laughing. “Professor Trelawney makes the weirdest predictions ever!”   
  
Ava nodded in agreement. “I still don’t remember why I kept taking the class. It’s just a bunch of rubbish. Like, when am I ever going to need to know that babies born during a solar eclipse will be short, with perfect eye-sight?” I giggled and shrugged. “Seems you're feeling a lot less grumpy,” Ava commented.   
  
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “The days been pretty good so far.”   
  
Ava patted me on the back. “Rosie’s back!” she exclaimed.   
  
“What do you mean, I’m ‘back’?” I asked.   
  
“Well, you’ve been really down ever since Valentine’s Day. You really seem to be bouncing back today!”   
  
I looked at Ava. Had I really been that bad after what had happened with Scorpius? Technically, it was all my fault. If my stupid sensible side hadn’t have kicked in, Scorpius might have known how I felt about him by now. Instead, I was still watching him from afar during mealtimes and Potions class. Ava used to call me Scorpius’ own secret stalker.   
  
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’ll try and be more upbeat tomorrow.”   
  
“Promise?” she asked.   
  
“Promise.”   
　 

* * *

  
  
I walked into Potions Class, acting slightly more upbeat, for Ava’s sake. The professor had moved me back to my old seat beside Ava after Liam kept attempting to flirt with her.   
  
“Hey, look,” she said as we sat down. Ava picked up something that was sitting on the table in front of us.   
  
“It’s a present,” I muttered, looking at it.   
  
“Open it!” Ava commanded.   
  
“What if it’s not mine?” I asked.   
  
“Well, who else has a birthday today, Ro?”   
  
I shrugged, and ripped the wrapping paper off the box, then carefully lifted the lid off. I looked in the box, and gasped. Resting in there was a single red rose.   
  
“You don’t think-” I whispered.   
  
Ava shrugged. “It could be anyone, but-”   
  
“Maybe he found out-”   
  
“Or maybe it’s from someone completely different. I mean, red rose and Rose would be a pretty easy comparison to make.”   
  
Ava shrugged. “Who knows.” At that moment, Scorpius, Liam and Peter walked into the classroom.   
  
“Happy Birthday,” Liam said as he passed.   
  
“Happy Birthday,” Peter repeated.   
  
“Happy Birthday, Rose,” Scorpius said, with a hint of a smile on his lips.   
  
I turned to look at Ava. “Oh my gosh! Maybe he did send them!”   
  
“Maybe,” she replied.   
  
I inwardly squealed with delight.   
　 

* * *

  
  
“What’s that you got there?” Hugo asked as I passed him on my way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.   
  
“This?” I asked, holding out the rose. “Oh, nothing. It’s just a birthday present I got.”   
  
“From who?”   
  
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. There was no name on it.”   
  
Hugo stared down at the present then looked up at me, brows furrowed together. “Do you sit in the far corner in Potions, closest to the teacher’s desk?”   
  
I nodded in reply. “Why?”   
  
“Because,” my brother explained, “I was talking to Professor Hubbard after class about the homework she had assigned us. This guy walked in, and placed something over there. I didn’t see what it was, because I had to leave to get to Care of Magical Creatures.”   
  
“What did the guy look like?” I asked, my heart starting to beat faster. Please tell me he’s tall, I thought. Tall and blonde.   
  
“I didn’t recognize him,” he said. “He had dark brown hair.” My heart fell. I didn’t even listen to the rest of Hugo’s description. It wasn’t Scorpius. Scorpius had blonde hair, not dark brown. Someone else had sent me the rose. It hadn’t been him after all.   
  
“Oh, thanks,” I said to Hugo, and began walking faster down the hall.   
  
“No problem, Rosie,” he replied. “So, uh, I guess I’ll see you later?”   
  
“I guess so,” I replied. I just could not believe this. How could I have gotten my hopes up, just to have been crushed by my younger brother? I should never have thought that Scorpius Malfoy thought any more of me, other than being Rose Weasley, the girl who helped him cut up his root in Potions, and whose birthday was April 17th. Nothing more than that.   
　 

* * *

  
  
“Ro, what’s wrong?” Ava asked at dinner. I hadn’t been feeling too well after what Hugo had told me. I still couldn’t believe how foolish I was to get my hopes up like that.   
  
“It wasn’t Scorpius that sent me the rose,” I replied.   
  
“What?” she asked. “How do you know it wasn’t him?”   
  
“Because,” I explained, “Hugo told me it wasn’t.” I launched into the story that Hugo had told me while we were walking in the hall together.   
  
  
Ava shook her head in disbelief when I was through. “I can’t believe it,” she muttered. “I was so sure it was him.”   
  
I sighed. “Yeah, I know. Me too.”   
  
“Hey!” Ava cried, her face lighting up. “Maybe what Hugo saw, was something completely different, like someone leaving their notes or something on the desk. Or maybe, Scorpius hired someone to put the present there, so he wouldn’t get caught.   
  
I just stared at her. “Really, Ava? Hiring someone to do his work? You’ve been reading to many of those muggle detective books.”   
  
Ava blushed. “Okay, fine. Maybe he didn’t hire someone, but maybe what Hugo saw was wrong.”   
  
“You really think so?” I asked.   
  
“Yes. Now go over to Scorpius, and ask him if he gave you the rose.”   
  
“You really think this will work?” I asked Ava.   
  
She nodded. “I’m sure it will. Now go.”   
  
“Will you come with me? You know, for support?” I asked.   
  
“Sure,” she agreed, standing up.   
  
I gave her a hug. “You’re the best, Ave,” I grinned.   
  
“I know!” she replied.   
  
“Well, aren’t you modest,” I said, rolling my eyes.   
  
Ava giggled. “You ready?”   
  
I nodded. “Yes.” I looked over to the Slytherin table, and scanned it for his beautiful blonde hair, but I couldn’t find him! I looked again, scanning everyone’s head at the table. He wasn’t there.   
  
“Where did he go?” I hissed.   
  
“Over there!” cried Ava, pointing to the large doors that opened into the Great Hall. Scorpius and Liam were walking out through the doors.   
  
“Come on!” I said to Ava, and we raced after them. “Scorpius!” I shouted, as we chased after him. “Wait up!” He turned around, looked at us, and stopped, so we could catch up.   
  
“Scorpius,” I panted.   
  
“Yes?” he asked. I looked at him, and almost got myself caught up in his beauty, before remembering why I had chased him down.   
  
“Did you send me the rose?” I asked.   
  
“Well, Rose,” he began. I was hanging onto his every word. “No.”   
  
I could feel my heart get caught in my throat, as though I couldn’t breath.   
  
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Ava said for me, then grabbed my hand, and walked me down the hall. “It’s okay,” she said to me. “You’ll get over him.” I nodded, even though I was pretty sure I never would.   
  
“Rose!” Scorpius yelled. Ava and I turned around to look at him. “Do you want to hear the truth now?” he asked.   
  
“What?” I asked.   
  
“Well,” Scorpius explained, “I figured if you could lie, I could lie. Now we’re even.”   
  
“What are you talking about?”   
  
“I sent you the rose, Rose,” he stated. “The rose was from me.”   
  
“Why did you lie to me about it?” I asked.   
  
“Because,” he repeated, “you lied to me about the roses.”   
  
“What? How did you know about that?”   
  
“I had a little inside source,” replied Scorpius.   
  
I glared at Ava. “It wasn’t me, I swear!” she said.   
  
I looked back at Scorpius, who shook his head. “It was Hugo.”   
  
Hugo? That boy is too observant for his own good. “So, he lied to me about seeing the other guy place something on my desk?” I clarified.   
  
“Yes,” Scorpius nodded.   
  
“I just don’t get it. Why did you do this. To mock me for sending you the flowers on Valentine’s Day?”   
  
“No,” he replied. I looked over at Ava, who shrugged.   
  
“Then why did you do it?” she asked him.   
  
“I - well - can I talk to Rose alone about it?”   
  
“Sure,” Ava agreed.   
  
“Thanks,” Scorpius smiled. His smile made me grin. “Come on, Rose,” he said. “Let’s go outside.” I nodded, following Scorpius out of the castle, leaving Ava behind with Liam.   
  
“So,” I heard Liam say to Ava, “I guess it’s just you and me.”   
  
“No way,” Ava replied. I laughed as I walked out of the doors.   
　 

* * *

  
  
Scorpius had lead me over to the outskirts of the forest, and we sat underneath one of the large trees. I shivered and wished I had a jacket.   
  
“So?” I began. “Why’d you do it?”   
  
“The same reason you sent me the roses. It was a sign of affection.”   
  
“What?” I asked.   
  
“I hoped you were the one that sent me the roses, I was just too afraid to ask you. I was going to, in Potions, but I chickened out.”   
  
“But, I thought you didn’t know who sent them! That’s how you were acting.”   
  
“What if it wasn’t you, and I’d gotten my hopes up for nothing?” he asked. “So, I tried to force myself into thinking it was other people. Scarlett, Nancy, and Emily were all possible candidates. I even asked your cousin, Molly.”   
  
“You thought it was Molly?” I asked.   
  
“I was trying not to get my hopes up,” he explained. “And then you told me it wasn’t you, when I finally asked. That was horrible.”   
  
“Really?”   
  
“Really,” he repeated. “So, I just told myself to forget it. But then I was talking to Hugo after a Quidditch match, and he told me about how he thought it was you that sent the roses to me. That made me think, maybe I could send you a rose. So I did. And your brother helped me with it.”   
  
“So, you really hoped it was me?” I asked.   
  
Scorpius nodded. “I’d been hoping that you’d notice me since the beginning of the year, but you never seemed to.”   
  
“Really?” I laughed. “Scorpius, I’ve been noticing you since second year.”   
  
This time it was his turn to look shocked. “Really?” he asked. “How come I never noticed that?”   
  
“Because, I noticed you form afar. I was too scared to actually come talk to you.”   
  
“And now?” he asked. “Am I really that scary?”   
  
“No,” I replied, giving him a smile.   
  
“Happy Birthday, Rose,” he whispered. Then he leaned in, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I could feel my cheeks blushing deep red. He had just kissed me. Scorpius Malfoy had just kissed me. I stared at his grey-blue eyes, and could feel my heart pounding as fast as it could. I just could not believe it. I knew that I’d definitely be keeping my promise to Ava. Tomorrow, I was certainly not going to be feeling down. 


End file.
